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Write Your Own Stories Wiki:Image Policy
Images that are uploaded to the Parody on Wiki should be in a format that provides clarity and ease of use, primarily through quick loading times. This page will describe the methods by which this will be achieved. File names File names on all wikis hosted by Wikia are case sensitive. Spaces and some punctuation marks are allowed in file names. As such, file names should be descriptive and use spaces and punctuation as appropriate. Capital letters should only be used with proper names or acronyms such as "Phineas Flynn" and "OWCA", but not with common words such as "riding skateboard". Files shared with other wikis cannot be renamed. If the file is moved to a new name, then only the locally-translated information is moved, disconnecting it from the shared file. The following table illustrates good and poor file names: If your computer's operating system does not support spaces or punctuation marks for its file names, they can be manually added when the picture is uploaded. After the "Source filename" is selected, the wiki will convert it to its storage name and display it in the "Destination filename" line. The "Destination filename" can be manually adjusted to add the necessary characters. (Note: spaces will be displayed as underscores but will still be present.) Colons (:''') should not be used since the wiki uses colons to designate categories. (Note: when copying a file name from the picture's page, copy the name '''above the picture, not the one below it. The name below it will always show underscores instead of spaces. If in the future a picture needs to be renamed, it is harder to update pages when they have pictures with underscores in their names instead of just spaces.) File formats Though several file formats are supported by the wiki, the following are the preferred formats, in order of preference: #JPEG (.jpg suffix) - for most pictures, except those with sharply-defined backgrounds (see "Comparison page" below). #PNG (.png) - for icons/avatars, images with a transparency setting, and images that will be displayed at a smaller size than a standard thumbnail. #GIF (.gif) - for animated images. (Note that animation is usually only displayed on Category pages and when directly linking to an image. For all other situations, .gif files are displayed as a static image and therefore has little benefit over a .jpg or .png file.) Compression/optimization For .jpg files, the higher the compression, the more detail in the picture is sacrificed to achieve that compression. No more than 10% compression should be selected. A low compression setting results in high clarity while maintaining a smaller file size, which translates to faster loading times for users on mobile web-enabled devices and those with slower Internet connections. :: If your graphics program does not allow you to specify a percentage for compression, look for a setting along the lines of "lowest compression" or "best quality". Standard encoding should be selected rather than progressive encoding since progressive encoding is not supported on all wikis. Likewise, lossless .jpg format should not be used for the same reason. For .png files, selecting optimization can reduce the file size slightly, but should be checked to make sure that it does not create a larger file size than without it. A good rule of thumb is to see if there is any difference in quality between the file as it is being worked on and the one that has been saved. Look at edges and see if there are any jagged lines or artifacting. When to use .png instead of .jpg An exception to using .jpg as the preferred file format involves pictures with sharply-defined backgrounds. A has been created that shows such an image along with two more common types of pictures. The Candace and Vanessa "Busted dance 06" picture at the top contains such a background. Artifacting can be seen in the dark red areas of the .jpg version and the edge where the black and dark red colors meet is softer. Both are more noticable as the displayed size of the picture gets smaller. This artifacting is a result of the wiki scaling down the original picture to the desired size and is not introduced into the original picture. For images that will be displayed at sizes smaller than a standard thumbnail (which defaults to 180px), and especially have sharply-defined backgrounds, .png is the preferred format. The other two pictures are representative of the pictures typically selected for screenshots, and .jpg is the preferred format for them. Picture sizes and resolutions Whenever possible, upload a widescreen version of the picture (16:9 aspect ratio). Common resolutions for a widescreen picture are 1080x608 and 1280x720. Standard Definition (4:3 aspect ratio) should be used if no widescreen version is available. It should also be used for any picture that will be used as a "button" (100px or lower), in Templates or in a Userbox. When uploading an SD picture that will be used for any of those cases, name the file the same as the widescreen version and add a designator at the end, such as "File:Ferb's inspirational speech - SD.png". SD resolutions on DVDs are 720x480, while TV transmissions are typically 640x480. Screen captures from a DVD may need to be adjusted horizontally if they were stretched to 720x480 for the DVD. Resize the images to return them to the 4:3 aspect ratio of 640x480 if needed. Panoramic versions of pictures are welcomed. A panoramic picture is an extra-wide or extra-tall picture that is pieced together from a scene where the camera is moving. File names should indicate that this is a panoramic image, such as "File:Ferb's inspirational speech - panorama.jpg". Avatars are pictures that have been cropped to a square size. They are used for both by users as their avatar and on the Characters page. User avatars are displayed as a 50x50 image, so any picture that will be used as an avatar should be an even multiple of that size (100x100, 150x150, etc.) Avatar pictures should be no larger than 400x400, with 300x300 being the preferred maximum. When a .jpg picture needs to be cropped, every attempt should be made to create the new version from an original screenshot, rather than the existing .jpg picture. If this is not possible, use JPEGCrop or a similar lossless JPEG manipulation program. Displaying a picture at a smaller size Uploading a smaller version of an existing picture is not necessary. The wiki can display pictures at a smaller size by adding a size parameter. The most common size that will be used is the thumbnail size. Thumbnails are shown at a default of 180px, but this can be adjusted in each user's under the "Files" tab. The thumbnail to the right was displayed with the following command: : To display a picture at a different size, use the Picture template. Display sizes should be no larger than 300px since this will crowd out any surrounding text for users that are using mobile devices and/or have the screen resolution on their desktop/laptop set to a lower setting like 800x600. Note: If you click on a placeholder to upload a picture, the wiki will many times automatically re-upload the picture at the smaller size. These are identified by having the size in front of the name, such as "280px-". These automatically-uploaded pictures will need to be deleted and the pages changed to resize the existing larger picture. As such it is better to manually add the picture using the method shown above. Uploading a picture Before uploading a picture, check to see if that picture (or one very similar to it) has already been uploaded. Check the category for that episode or character . This can also prevent situations where a different picture will be replaced because it has the same file name as the one about to be uploaded. A list of all picture categories may be seen on the Image categories page. Maximum size of a file that can be uploaded is 10MB. Pictures over 1MB in size should be re-examined to see if it is really necessary to be in that high a resolution. If it is a .png file, check to see if a .jpg version would appear the same (or very close to it). In general, we only need one version of each picture, with the exceptions noted in the "Picture sizes and resolutions" section above. Do not upload a .png version that is a duplicate of an existing .jpg version. If the .jpg picture is not of a high enough quality, upload a better version for that existing picture. Replacing a picture Once a picture has been uploaded, replacing a picture by uploading a new version from its page should only be done to improve the quality of the picture. Do not upload a different scene to the same name. Upload different scenes as a completely new image with a different name. Requirements When uploading a picture, the following information is required: * A file name that meets the criteria listed in the "File names" section above. * Includes a summary that describes what the picture is about and what episode it came from. * Links should be added to any characters and episodes listed in the Summary. * The appropriate license should be selected. * Relevant categories added Put the episode category first, then list the characters from left to right. * If a picture came from another site, a link to that site must be provided along and the proper licensing selected. :: See for an example of a picture with all required information. When uploading multiple files, categories must be added on the same line as the Summary. Do not press Enter to start a new line. Pressing Enter will cause the upload to begin. Deletion of images A picture may be deleted under the following circumstances: * The image contains subject matter listed in the Block policy. * The image is off-topic (not related to Phineas and Ferb) and is not used on the uploader's user page within 7 days. * The picture is a duplicate of an existing picture (regardless of format), or is very similar to another picture. Note: Duplicate pictures that are uploaded for specific purposes (avatars, Userboxes, templates, etc.) are normally exempt from this. External pictures This wiki is not an image hosting service. Uploading many off-topic pictures is usually a sign that they will be used on other sites and are therefore subject to deletion. People interested in free image hosting should check with Flickr, ImageShack, PhotoBucket or a similar provider. Hotlinking to pictures from other sites is prohibited because it causes bandwidth theft. If the picture is worth displaying, upload a copy to this wiki and include proper licensing and attribution. Likewise, hotlinking on other sites to pictures from this wiki is also prohibited. If a picture from this wiki will be used on a different site, it should be uploaded to that site with a statement that it came from this wiki, link back to where the file resides on this wiki, and proper licensing notice. ---- ---- To recommend additional topics that need to be included on this page, list them on the Discussion page. Image policy Image policy